40 Of The Best Historic Propaganda Visuals As Shared By This Dedicated Online Community

Propaganda has been a powerful tool used throughout history. But how does it really work? And is it only used to trick people into believing certain things? When we hear about it, do we think only about past historic events or can we think of an example of seeing propaganda in today’s world? 

Propaganda can be spread through books, movies, images, and other sources that reach mass audiences. Its primary goal is to change people’s views and opinions. After important events that changed the world’s history, propaganda started to carry a rather negative connotation. But it can also be used to spread positive messages and embrace necessary changes.

Bored Panda has already covered the topic by presenting these propaganda posters about the COVID-19 crisis. The pictures depict very recent events, so it’s no trouble for people to understand what is the hidden meaning behind them. But what about some of the older propaganda images? Are we able to decipher those? 

A subreddit called PropagandaPosters with 415k members shares various posters and pamphlets that show how propaganda was spread during various periods of time. These images depict and help to understand some historical events better with their symbolic drawings, call-to-action messages, and well-portrayed stereotypes. Which one of these do you find the most influential? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below!

More Info: Reddit

#1 A Known Classic That Never Seems To Age. Date Unknown (1920s?)

Image credits: Arnmaran

#2 Help Keep Your School All American! [1950]

Image credits: I_like_maps

#3 We Don’t Always March Straight, Swedish Armed Forces Gay Pride Poster, 2018

Image credits: TheOther36

#4 Barbarity vs. Civilisation, By René Georges Hermann-Paul, 1899

Image credits: asheikh11

#5 Anti-Vac Comic From The 1940s. Stupidity Is Timeless.

Image credits: T3SKULLBREAK

#6 Poster Distributed By Youthbuilders, The Student Group From New York City's Ps 43, To Protest Segregated Blood Banks, Produced In 1945.

Image credits: throughmethroughyou

#7 American Freedom. Soviet Union, 1960s

Image credits: edikl

#8 Anti-American Poster, Ussr, 1960

Image credits: DmitryZaytcev

#9 Dc Statehood Poster (2006)

Image credits: TrueBirch

#10 "Evolution?" // Anti- Nuclear War Poster (1970s Ussr)

Image credits: ManOfReasonCC

#11 “Rationing Means A Fair Share For All Of Us” - USA, 1940s

Image credits: EssoEssex

#12 "News-Leak Embarrasses White House" 1972.

Image credits: [deleted]

#13 Brazilian Cartoon On Us Presidential Election 2008

Image credits: SpaceDetective

#14 "Telling A Friend May Mean Telling The Enemy" - UK, Wwii.

Image credits: frecklefactor

#15 1900s, Anti-Feminist Poster.

Image credits: throughmethroughyou

#16 2009 Net Neutrality Poster

Image credits: skabeteber

#17 The Only Good Nazi Is A Dead Nazi 1945

Image credits: 70sTimewarp58

#18 United States During World War I (1917)

Image credits: AntergosLinux

#19 "Diplomacy, The American Way", Ussr, 1986

Image credits: Geeglio

#20 "Don't Throw Stones", Iraq, 2004

Image credits: buzzkill_chad

#21 Don't Go To Spain (UK, 1970s)

Image credits: purpleaardvark1

#22 Pro-Child Labor Poster ~1915

Image credits: vulverine

#23 "Basement With Supplies" / Ussr, 1973

Image credits: soviet_posters

#24 Hitler Youth Poster (1930s) And American Meat Industry Poster (1980s)

Image credits: Unleashtheducks

#25 This Patient Is Hopeless. He Was Diagnosed With A Complete Lack Of Dollars. Soviet Union, 1950s

Image credits: atotalfuckingfailure

#26 "Nuclear War", Soviet Union, C. 1980s

Image credits: Zzyzwicz_

#27 Hoarders, Panic Buyers, Shame On You! (Nazi Germany, 1942)

Image credits: ObjectiveMall

#28 “...they Don’t Really Seem To Know Why They Are Protesting!” USA, 2011

Image credits: EssoEssex

#29 "Tax The Loafer - Not The Loaf" - Britain, 1920s

Image credits: 1stDegreeBoo-Urns

#30 An Old Caricature Addressing The Different Colonial Empires In Africa Date Early 1900s

Image credits: Arnmaran

#31 "The First Lesson" - Ussr, 1964.

Image credits: WillManhunter

#32 "Liberalism, The Right Way!" - 1924 Liberal Party Campaign Poster

Image credits: [deleted]

#33 "The World According To Ronald Reagan", By David Horsey, 1987.

Image credits: jonnysunshine

#34 Propaganda Pamphlet From The Korean War Trying To Convince American Soldiers To Defect, Early 1950s

Image credits: LeRoiRoug

#35 "Freedom" 1940 UK

Image credits: frankbr1

#36 "The Shave", Ussr, Ww2, 1945

Image credits: mzogge

#37 "The Tsunami Killed 100 Times More People Than 9/11." Canceled Wwf Ad From 2009

Image credits: EssoEssex

#38 “The Price Of Democracy” USA, 2005

Image credits: EssoEssex

#39 "Negroes Beware - Do Not Attend Communist Meetings. The Ku Klux Klan Is Watching You" - Alabama, United States, 1933

Image credits: EternalTryhard

#40 Us Pro-Russian Poster After February Revolution 1917.

Image credits: HerrasKissa